Category: Tools

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Newly Uncluttered and Unclogged Laptops

My days seem to get cluttered with more and more to do every second that goes by lately. I already have so much to do considering I have a farm to run, so I have been on the search for different ways to declutter things. One thing that is in desperate need to get uncluttered and unclogged, is my computer and my two laptops I have in the house.

We use these computers for so many things, not only for searching the net, or social networking, or playing games, but to also keep all of our personal and business information. Our computers over the years have gotten entirely to slow, and was ridiculous how slow they had all gotten since we had purchased them.

One night I actually had a few spare moments, and I took full advantage to find a solution to this problem we had with these computers. It didn’t take long at all for me to find a great and affordable way to do this in such a easy way. Click on clean up computer and you will be amazed at how easy it really is to unclutter and unclog your computer systems.

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Searching For The Bright Red Coffee Can

As much time as I have spent trying to get things better organized around here since moving permanently here at the family farm, it would take a miracle to get it all done by myself. I have done a good amount in the past 5 years or so, but my parents lived here most of their adult life and the managed to accumulate a lot of stuff throughout their life times and never wanted to get rid of anything.

I was looking for a few u bolts the other day and I knew that I had seen a coffee can in one of the out buildings that had a variety of u bolts as well as other types of bolts that I knew would come in handy at some point (much like my dad did apparently). Now that I need them of course I can’t put my hands on the coffee can to save my soul even though I remember it being red in color and you would think that a red coffee can would stand out and say “look at me” but not this time.

I’ll be darned if I am going to run into town for a couple of bolts, so I’ll just keep looking for that darned coffee can and next time I go into town, if I haven’t found them yet, then I’ll start looking at buying new ones. Of course as soon as I purchase new ones I will find the old ones, it never fails!

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Website Designed for My Sister

I have been exploring the possibility of designing a website for my sister to have and use, so of course I have turned to the Internet for assistance. I remembered my brother telling me about a web-site of Hosterio.com which he tells me is an affordable way to have a great web-site with 20 MB of space, a free on-line site builder, free pop mail I.D.s, free sub domains, a free shopping cart, front page extension, a FTP user account and a cpanel.

What is cool is that I actually understand most of it now since I have started learning about this process.They have expert web designers available to assist you with your Website Design, whether is be for personal or business use and have several packages from which to choose from according to your individual needs and unique characteristics. I have looked at several web hosting sites and have learned what to look for when looking for a web host and I put what I learned to the test when researching this site and I think that it will do just fine for what her needs are. No need for her to spend her hard earned money when I can do the same and/or better for nothing.

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Bulletproof Microphones

Since both of our parents were killed over five years ago now, my oldest sister is always stuck playing hostess for most of the major family holiday dinners and get-togethers. Since I am on my own and live the closest to her and her family it only makes sense for me to pitch in where the others really can’t manage to do for a variety of reasons, I try and help out in any way that I can.

Over Christmas it was mentioned that we should try doing some karaoke at the next family dinner, which just so happens to be Easter and that believe it or not,  is only a few short weeks away. My sister does have a karaoke machine but it’s been around the block a few times from the look of it and it doesn’t have the microphone that used to go with that particular karaoke machine. I have been looking at various microphones online in my spare time and have been totally surprised at how many microphones are really out there.

I think I finally decided on the right one, the sm57, but what freaked me out was in the description part of the add it boasts that it is bulletproof and how it stands up to road travel and abuse. Guess these are just an added bonus to the whole deal, I really don’t think anyone in my family would get that crazy during karaoke at my sisters on Easter, but in case they do I will know that the microphone will make it through all right! I can’t wait to share this story on Easter day with the family members that manage to find their way there this year.

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Paper Trade Account

This morning I am taking advantage of a nice quiet house, not that it is ever loud, to get online and learn more about the stock market. It seems to me that the huge decline in stocks these past several years or so has brought the price of many stocks down to a price point where there are good opportunities for smart investors. Four years ago if you told me to invest a couple thousand dollars into a handful of stocks, I would not have gotten much for money. The price per share would have been so high that I would not have many shares. Now that the price has dropped to what I call an adjusted level of reasonable price points, the challenge is to find the businesses that offer good value for the investment and that have a good to excellent chance of coming through this recession as a healthier, stronger company.

If you find the right companies for this investment strategy, you will be rewarded in a few years with rebounding share prices. A good friend told me about a web site that is an online stock broker and also a great learning tool. They have a great feature called a “paper trade account” so that you can play the market without risking real cash. Once you are comfortable with the results of your paper trading efforts, you can easily open a real account and manage your real shares. What a wonderful idea that I believe I am going to check out here real soon and would urge others to try out as well, just to get a good idea of how it all works before jumping in.

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Web Design Tutorials and Templates

In my opinion, design is the most critical aspect of a web site. You can have the most vital, important information to share with your readers, but if the design is crap, most people will move on without reading what you are trying to say. Design is combining art and style with form and function. It takes a talent for composition, a sense of style, an eye for detail and a deliberate learning process that develops skill to be a good designer.

The biggest mistake most beginners make when designing anything, whether is is a flyer that hangs in the convenience store window, a personal scrapbook of family photos and memorabilia, or a web page is to clutter the page with too much “stuff.” Beginners use several different type styles and fonts, making the page look like a ransom note. They use too many “cute” embellishments like clip art, busy borders and doo-dads. And they often lose track of the main thing they are trying to communicate – the original content. Any decent web design company should be well aware of

You can’t teach someone everything they need to know about design in just a few minutes. And some people never “get it” no matter how hard to you try to teach them. But if you have an interest in design and any talent for art or composition, there are a lot of books in the library, if you can find a book store I’m sure that they have a good amount of books about the subject. There are some great website design tutorials along with a ton of free web resources to learn the basic principles and then move on to advanced skills.

One of my favorite resources on the web is a blog by a designer who really knows the Internet. His posts are short and to the point, and they cover a wide range of talking points. This is not for the beginning designer, but anyone who has successfully completed a dozen or so projects will most certainly appreciate his comments and suggestions. If you are interested in learning some of the intermediate and advanced techniques, you should check in with the web design blogger site once in a while. He talks about more than just design. Recent posts include topics like search engine optimization, determining your Google page rank, web design tutorials and web site templates. So you can see that there is a variety of useful information presented and worth the time to click over there.

web design tutorials

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Yet Another Browser To Learn and Use

Another browser? Good grief! I was originally a Netscape fan, back in the days when you had to buy one on disk. They got muscled out and I reluctantly converted to Internet Explorer, which worked well for a while and then I had an issue, can’t remember what that particular issue was because that was a couple of years ago and numerous computer issues. I was told that I really needed to stop using good old Internet Explorer, that was when my  IT buddies turned me onto Firefox, and that’s where I plan to stay. Unless I buy a Mac, then I’ll have to use the Safari browser.

Now Google has come up with another way to get us to come over to the “dark side” and get into the market and they have launched their own browser called, “Chrome.” The early testers are posting rave reviews, so maybe they’ve got something there. Plus I know several people that have turned to Google and tried out their “Chrome” and it is all good positive stuff that I’m hearing about it. But for a little longer I plan on using Firefox and letting the new Chrome work out more of the bugs before I install it and give it a try.

I’ll have to be in the right kind of mood to switch over as well. I’m not looking forward to yet another browser and learning all the ins and outs of the darned thing. So I’m in no hurry what-so-ever to switch out, but it is inevitable.

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A New Drill Press Vise On The Top Of My Wish List

Well it looks like I know what I am going to ask Santa Claus to bring me this year. I don’t have the money in my budget for a new drill press vise, so for all the folks that keep asking me what I want for Christmas I can honestly give them a good idea for something that I want and need and will use and will really appreciate this year.

So instead of the same old gift basket(s) crap that usually finds its way to me (people just don’t use their imagine or brains much anymore when it comes to buying gifts for guys) just maybe I’ll get a real man’s gift a tool, or at least the money or a gift card that can be used to buy one, the right one.  This is a tool that I depend upon quite a bit these days with all the work that this place demands of me. It’s a good thing that I don’t need it right away for anything right this moment and I can only hope that nothing comes up in the mean time that warrants the urgent need for one, but one never knows now do they?

 

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Basket Fillers

Stopped by Wal-Mart this afternoon to see if they had any early gardening supplies, but they are a little slow to stick their garden center and I came away empty handed. However, I decided to check out a few other items while I was there, and I found a few things to add to my basket. They have a new aisle of cheap crap that sells for $1 or $2 and they called “Basket Fillers.” That made me laugh – these poor Wal-Mart shoppers are so in need of direction that the Evil Wally Empire has started labeling things with suggestive names. Think you’re finished shopping? No – your basket is not full enough. You need some basket fillers – go over there and get you some.

I did pick up a pair of pajamas for my nephew. He is a Star Wars fan thanks to Uncle Adam, and there were some new PJs with Start Wars characters on them. My nephew is 6 years old, so I guess he’ll wear a six 6. I don’t know – how am I supposed to keep up with what size clothes everyone wears? At the checkout lane, the cashier looked a little frazzled, so I tried to cheer her up. Fridays and Saturdays have got to be the busiest days at Wally’s World of Wonder. I made a couple little jokes while she was ringing up my items and couldn’t get a smile out of her. Then she picked up the size 6T PJs to find the price tag and I asked her if she thought those PJs were the right size to fit me. That made her laugh – finally.